What Hath God Wrought

An Analog Newsletter
In Your Snail-Mail Inbox

I'm Ben Ratkey, and I want to mail you pieces of paper with my writing on them.

I am writing a newsletter that does not exist digitally in any form. It's not published on Substack, you cannot read it on a blog, and I will not email it to you.

But if you share your mailing address with me, I will put a copy of my newsletter into an envelope, attach postage, handwrite your address on the envelope, and mail it to you.

Who is this newsletter for?

You should consider subscribing to this newsletter if:

  • You know who I am and you'd like to read medium and long-form writing from me.
  • You would enjoy receiving more paper mail that isn't junk, advertising, or bills.
  • You think this is an interesting idea, and you're curious to see how it turns out.
  • You have a shared interest in some of the same topics as me (see next section)

What is the newsletter about?

I'm writing about topics that catch my interest. That means the content of the newsletter will vary over time.

I'm fairly confident that you'll appreciate the newsletter if you share any of my interests. Here are a handful of topics that are likely to show up in my writing:

  • Philosophy of mind
  • Information theory
  • Humanity's relationship with technology (especially communication tech)
  • The structure and intricacies of human civilization
  • Memetics, genetics, natural selection, and gradient descent
  • Mythology, religion, and the occult
  • Humanity's relationship with egregores, ideologies, gods, and other psychofauna

What is the cost?

There is no cost. The newsletter is free for subscribers. At this time, I have no plans to monetize this endeavor.

I might provide the option for subscribers to make small donations to help cover my printing and postage expenses, but I want that to be strictly voluntary.

Are you going to spam me or exploit my privacy?

Absolutely not.

I'm not going to go to the trouble of making paper copies and stuffing envelopes and spending money on postage unless I have something worthwhile to say. And besides, I don't have anything to sell you anyways. There's no gimmick or gotcha here.

The mailing address you share with me will remain 100% private. In fact, after you fill out the sign-up form, I will write your address down in a pen-and-paper notebook and delete the digital trail, so your information won't even be stored in a CRM or email marketing database. I will never sell your private information, because doing so would be a gross violation of my personal values.

How do I sign up?

The only thing I need is for you to tell me what I should write on the envelope to ensure that it gets delivered to you.

Please make sure the mailing address you provide is fully complete and accurate.

Not accepting new sign-ups at this time. Sorry!